1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to music players, audio amplifiers and speakers used in home automation and to intercoms or video interphone systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Audio and stereo amplifiers and pre amplifiers that are used in connection with home automations, home theater and similar applications, are in fact a common, well known audio appliances that are used and operated by consumers. The differences are in their structures, such as being constructed into a rack mounting enclosure and are provided with additional control line or bus line connectors for operating the audio appliances from a centralized panel.
Such audio systems are interconnected by different wires and shielded audio cables between the system rack, the speakers and a range of audio players. This requires long stretched audio cables, all the way from the user operated players such as CD, DVD, Blue-ray and/or ipod cradle that are located or placed in the living or dining room etc, at the user option, for convenient handling of audio or video disks. All the stereo signals including a television audio output signal require audio shielded cables that are fitted with plugs at the cable ends. No conduits are provided for such audio cables by the building architects during the design of the residence and during the construction.
Many such audio cables and heavy gauge speaker cables and control wires must be laid for connecting the audio system when the building is completed and the plurality of cables and wired must be stretched along built walls that spoil the interiors. Moreover, such connections are costly and must be handled by specialists.
Further, such audio systems do not provide connections and control for integrating the audio system with the intercom or video interphone, having two way communications with the entry panels, nor the remotely opening of the buildings or the house's doors, nor for communicating with the guard, a virtual doorman, a concierge and a virtual e-concierge connected to the video intercom or the intercom system of the building or the house.
Such intercom or video intercom systems are commonly installed along with the electrical system and are connected via twisted pair or pairs, such as a pair or pairs of the CAT 5 cables used for networking or telephones in a building. Such cables cannot be used to connect stereo audio signal into the input connectors of an audio pre amplifier or the amplifier. On the other hand, such CAT 5 cables are commonly designed for and are installed into conduit in building and houses, by the electrical contractor at far lower costs than the costs of wiring shielded audio cables.
In large cities such as N.Y the Fire department is intending to integrate the intercom system of apartment buildings with the fire alarms and to provide for transmitting voice messages or commands to a selected or all the apartments in the event of fire. Such interfacing and integration with intercoms is not readily available with many of the current intercoms and video intercoms system, some of which propagate digital audio signals that cannot be directly connected to audio amplifiers or pre amplifiers.
Further, audio systems for home automation do not incorporate microphones for processing the well known “hands free” audio signals, such as used by hands free telephones, while such two way hands free communications are very useful for bed ridden, the elderly and the sick to call for emergency and communicate with medical doctors, a service that is more and more needed due to the aging of the population.